This is a friendly match between France and Argentina, France. It’s very entertaining to watch teams in their preparation period and these teams are known as world’s basketball grands so please review our thoughts, here below.

 

France

France played two games in the preparation period so far. They won one game against Tunisia (94:56) and lost a game against Turkey (69:74). Both games took place in France as well as this one. France is a great balanced team with a huge talent. They have star players from NBA and Euroleague clubs. We can see that they do not have good team chemistry just yet, but things should go well deep into the preparation period. 

This summer has one disappointing thing for France National team. Thomas Heurtel suffered an injury and won’t participate in the World Cup. But France is a great basketball country, so they figured out things very fast. Heurtel will be replaced with a young point guard from NBA Ellie Okobo. This is a great opportunity for this player to show his price on the court and I think that he should be a nice boost for the whole team as he is flashy and “hungry” player.

The great news are that after many speculations NBA stars like Frank Ntilkina, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Nicolas Batum and Rudy Gobert decided to help for this team. This means that France will have players to fulfill both ends of the court. France’s leaders in preparation period: Nicolas Batum (13.5ppg, 4.5apg, 4.0rpg), Nando de Colo (12.0ppg, 3.0rpg, 2.5apg), Rudy Gobert (10.5ppg, 4.5rpg, 1.2blkpg)

 

Argentina

Argentina played only one game in the preparation period and it was a loss against Brazil 89:82. They are only starting to get in shape and at the moment Argentina is not what they are going to be. They should be better. Good thing for Argentina is that they already have their final roster and the only task for this team’s coaches and players is to get in good shape as fast as they can. But on the flip side, Latins know their final 12 players because there are not many good players that can fit into the National team.  

Argentina’s two main problems is a small bench and this lack of depth can be a huge problem deep into the tournament. Another thing is that their brightest stars are either retired or old, but still playing. Manu Ginobili and Carlos Delfino are retired from basketball and this will be Argentina’s 1st  WC without these players. Luis Scola is still in the roster, but he is not as fast and lacks the stamina to play his best basketball.

Argentina’s strength is the guards. The little guys that runs their offense will have to really step up their game. Of course, if Argentina wants to show something this year. Luca Vildoza, Nicolas Laprovitolla, Facundo Campazzo, and Gabriel Deck are this team’s main players and they all are little guys. If Argentina will find a way to hide their weaknesses — it will be the strong play of their guards. Argentina’s leaders in preparation period: Luis Scola (17.0ppg, 8.0rpg, 2.0apg) Facundo Campazzo (13.0ppg, 8.0apg, 3.0rpg), Nicolas Laprovitolla (12.0ppg, 5.0apg, 3.0rpg).

 

France vs Argentina H2H

France and Argentina is the 1st meeting between these teams since 2016. It is really interesting to see them face up once again after such a long time. France has more strengths and it is likely that they will use it to their advantage. France has better centers and power forwards than Argentina. Europeans are younger, faster and more athletic. The only thing that Argentina has in its favor is guards, but I would still say that it is pretty equal. This is going to be an interesting game and as long as it is the preparation period — anything can happen.

 

Article image is taken from http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019/news/de-colo-tells-france-to-focus-on-its-own-game-and-to-fear-no-world-cup-opponent